Residents Angered By New Dump Sites
Posted June 26, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Trash is piling up at 19 temporary dumps set up to shoulder some of the burden placed on City transfer stations since the garbage strike began on Monday.
Many of the temporary dumps are in parks, which angers those who remember the stench during the 2002 strike. The establishment of a site at Christie Pits has sparked protests by a neighborhood group which says the green space is central to the community and will be made unusable.
“It was disgusting, and you couldn’t go near the park last time,” recalled one resident.
And locals are particularly upset with their councillor and deputy mayor, Joe Pantalone, who reassured them in an email that the space would not be used as a dump.
“It’s a big slap in the face. One minute he says, ‘I support you. We’re not going to do this.’ And the next day this happens,” revealed the chair of Friends of Christie Pits Park, Monica Gupta.
There’s also the issue of vermin for neighbours, though officials say bait stations are set up around the perimeter of each temporary site. But homeowners can also take steps.
“As long as they bag their garbage and they put that bag inside a good plastic sealed container that’s really going to help them,” said Rob Quinn of Orkin Pest Control.
And although most don’t want other people’s trash in their backyards, few can argue the need for the sites.
